Experts encourage early adoption at SME seminar

Experts say Thailand needs to ride the wave of 5G technology to prevent the country from lagging behind others over the next decade, while business operators must embrace advanced tech in order to survive in a competitive market.

Technology, e-commerce and business panellists shared their views on the importance of 5G adoption at yesterday’s “5G to Revive Thai SMEs” seminar hosted by the Bangkok Post and Post Today online at True Digital Park.

Piroon Paireepairit, head of the 5G working group at True Corporation, said Thailand must commit to the 5G roadmap and a quick roll-out of related networks.

As several neighbouring countries, including Vietnam, gear up for 5G technology, Thailand risks falling behind and losing foreign investment in the next 10 years.

Mr Piroon said 5G provides fast speeds, low latency, real-time responses and multi-connectivity support.

Backed by 5G tech, smart factories, smart agriculture, smart transport and smart healthcare could help transform the country.

The government needs to subsidise the 5G network roll-out to assist mobile operators, Mr Piroon said.

“The first 1-2 years will be the experimental period, and vertical industries will begin to form,” he said.

Thanawat Malabuppha, president of the Thai E-Commerce Association, said 5G networks will be at least 20 times as fast as 4G, creating opportunities for better customer experiences in online retail.

According to e-commerce giant Amazon, having websites operate 1-2 seconds faster means a 25% increase in sales opportunity.

Online retail accounted for 2% of total retail in 2018 and there is still room to grow, Mr Thanawat said.

An Amazon survey revealed that 51% of Thais buy products through e-commerce, versus 20% globally. Online merchants can use virtual reality and augmented reality to engage with buyers.

“Online-to-offline skills are important for e-commerce, particularly in this 5G era,” Mr Thanawat said.

Suwanchai Lohawattanakul, director-general of the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (Osmep), said small and mediumsized enterprises are expected to benefit from quick adoption of upcoming 5G technologies to improve productivity, business models and recruitment methods.

“5G technology can help Thai SMEs operate with reliable systems that can further raise productivity and profitability,” Mr Suwanchai said. “SMEs will have huge opportunities to connect with customers worldwide. For instance, 5G enables faster recruitment by reducing the time needed to identify, interview, shortlist and seek talent.”

Osmep is under the Industry Ministry. The government has supported SMEs in making technological progress via online marketplaces, online payments and e-commerce, in line with the Thailand 4.0 initiative.

“The office has supported roughly 100,000 SMEs annually,” Mr Suwanchai said.

According to Osmep, 250,000 Thai SMEs use the online platform.